[osol-discuss] Re: Project proposal: User Mode Driver

[Freeman Liu]

Richard L. Hamilton wrote:
> >From one other OS, maybe; multiple, I doubt it, since
> each OS has a slightly different framework for drivers:
> the entry points (and associated semantics) they're
> supposed to provide, the kernel functions they're allowed
> to call, etc.
>
> It's not always straightforward, but I'm reasonably sure a number
> of drivers have already been ported from one or more of the
> *BSDs.
>   
Yes.
> With Linux, there's the whole license issue, and that's probably
> the only case where what you're talking about really applies.
>   
Maybe the most important one.
> And AFAIK, the Linux kernel developers are not willing to commit
> to a stable driver interface; what works with the current Linux
> kernel may not some time in the future.  So a framework for
> supporting Linux drivers (whether in user-space or as loadable
> kernel modules, assuming that wouldn't be a license problem
> (and I'm sure there are people that would argue either side of
> whether or not it would be)) would likely need to be updated
> as the Linux driver interface evolved, at least to support
> new or updated drivers.
>   
We dont need to rely on linux driver anymore as long as the Solaris
user mode driver works.
> Would it be great to have as many drivers as Linux?  Absolutely.
> Would it be worth it to solve licensing or technical problems or
> both to be able to use the Linux drivers in Solaris?  That, I
> have serious doubts about.
>   
That depends on how easy it will be to do it, I think.
> For some narrow classes of drivers, some sort of arrangement
> to make Linux drivers work with Solaris with minimal manual
> intervention is possible.  For example, there used to be
> http://web.archive.org/web/20000919160418/http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/ndpkit.html
> before one of the authors of Linux drivers made a stink about it to the point
> that it was discontinued.  (still not clear to me if he had a legal leg to stand
> on, but apparently he at least held the ground in terms of PR)
>   
Really good idea. It is a pity that it is not downloadable.
I will trace it.
> Even a user mode solution, while less likely to be subject to licensing
> questions, would probably be a major PR mess, unless Solaris was GPLv2'd,
> which would annoy a lot of [Open]Solaris developers.
>   
This approach is compatible with Sun's policy with open source code.
> Such a fascist attitude on the part of the Linux crowd is fairly ironic,
> considering that Linux has borrowed at the very least ideas if not code
> from Solaris since its earliest days.
>   
Maybe that will be mutual authorization for using code.
>  
>  
> This message posted from opensolaris.org
> _______________________________________________
> opensolaris-discuss mailing list
> opensolaris-discuss at opensolaris.org
>